A lisp program's code can be manipulated by the program itself. Lisp programs are self-aware. It's a bit mind-bending, but from this simple foundation comes th

A lisp program's code can be manipulated by the program itself. Lisp programs are self-aware. It's a bit mind-bending, but from this simple foundation comes the power to easily create and assimilate ever higher-level abstractions (which is what programming is really all about). Parts of a program can be used as a template for creating other parts as needed. You can assemble these parts and shape the language into something very specific for the problem you are solving. Other languages come part-way, but don't fully embrace this concept (code=data) because it has a cost: it seems difficult to learn because it requires a change in thinking; it seems difficult to write (and read) because you're directly encoding a data structure and it all looks a bit 'samey'. Where other languages have 'shapes' in their code that give the trained eye an indication of what the code is expressing (such as for...do loops and indentation), lisp code has one shape: a tree [1]. I don't know if I've reached beyond your understanding. I haven't meant to, but the takeaway should be this: lisp programs are self-aware and can operate on themselves because a lisp program is just data like any other. This makes it easy for the interpreter/compiler (hence 'lisp in x lines of code'), but more difficult for the programmer (at first). As with all things, practice and familiarity overcome these initial difficulties. It is worth it. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_(data_structure) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_(data_structure)